AT BALL STATE

MUNCIE – The American Heart Association will bring its Hands-Only CPR national awareness campaign and mobile tour to Ball State University's campus from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. Tuesday on University Green to teach members of the campus and Muncie community the two simple steps of Hands-Only CPR.

Training sessions will be scheduled in 45-minute intervals and will take only about 20 minutes to complete. Walk-ups are welcome, but registered participants will receive free informational kits to take home. Director of Health Enhancement Programs Rhonda Murr encourages registration for the event at surveymonkey.com/s/CPRatBallState.

"The hope is by educating more and more people about this technique, it'll decrease the bystander effect that happens when a person sees someone collapse," Murr says. "Too often people don't help because they're scared of doing mouth-to-mouth or are not properly certified."

Research shows Hands-Only CPR is as effective as CPR with breaths. And people feel more comfortable performing the two-step Hands-Only technique, which involves first calling 911 at the sight of a person collapsing, then pushing hard and fast on his or her chest to the tune of the Bee Gee's disco song "Stayin' Alive."

The national AHA Hands-Only CPR tour is supported by a grant from WellPoint Foundation. In the past three years, it has stopped at 24 cities, training more than 16,000 people. Along with its visit to Ball State, it will make several other stops in Indiana this month, including the Indiana Statehouse and Purdue University. For more information, visit youtube.com/user/handsonlycpr.

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